Can't Fight Fate
by Serena Thorn
Summary: If there's one man who knows you can't fight fate, it's Sylar. Now it's time for him to pass that wisdom onto Claire. ONESHOT


Title: Can't Fight Fate  
Rating: PG-13  
Summary: If there's one man who knows you can't fight fate, it's Sylar. Now it's time for him to pass that wisdom onto Claire.  
Prompt: "You're So Spoiled" a sort of spoilers challenge over at the LJ Sylar_Claire comm  
Spoilers: 3x25 speculation  
Disclaimer: Heroes is not owned by me, but by Tim Kring. I'm simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.  
A/N: So my Sylaire muse hasn't been speaking to me much lately, but after seeing the "An Invisible Thread" promo and given this prompt she finally came out of hiding and hijacked my laptop. Hope you like it.

* * *

Claire knew it had to be some kind of trick. None of the others, not Peter, not Nathan and not even Noah were with her here. Still it had been Nathan to request her presence. Those were his exact words. But he wasn't there so who -

Her answer came in the form of the heavy double doors slamming behind her once she had walked into the modest room. It was the table she saw first. Two chairs. One of the occupied. She should have known.

"Hello, Claire," his velvet midnight voice stated.

"I'm not the only one who knows you're alive," she spat, deciding that would have to suffice for "They know I'm here. You'll never get away with this." And all of the other clichés she could spew at him.

Sylar shrugged slightly. "That's not what matters now."

"Then what is? You already have my ability, you've taken Nathan's identity, you're within walking distance of the President, what more could you want?"

He smiled. "You."

She couldn't even reply. He couldn't be serious! Wait. Why couldn't she move. Why was that chair next to him scooting out from the table? Claire could only watch as the chair moved behind her and jerked forward, catching her off guard and forcing her to sit. With a flick of Sylar's fingers she was beside him. His arm reaching around the back of it another moment later.

Wine? How hadn't she noticed the glasses on the table until then? Had they been there all along? Were they for them? She couldn't think. This was too insane. Well that went without saying given that Sylar was involved, but still.

"As I was saying, Claire. I came here for you. To propose a sort of partnership, deciding to no longer prolong the inevitable. The fact is, Claire, you and I will live forever. When the day comes that all of the others we've known are dead and gone, you and I will still be here."

"Oh, you can die. I'll make sure of it," Claire angrily grinned as though she were already plotting his demise once more.

Sylar exhaled. He knew she would say something like that. Still, he continued, "In a thousand years you and I could be the only two people on the planet. We will see eternity, Claire. There's no reason we should have to see it alone when only you and I have this special trait."

"We only share it because you took it from me," she grumbled.

Sylar slowly brushed a lock of blonde hair away from her face, watching as her eyes closed.

She shuddered and told herself that it was only out of disgust. Her heart was racing with his touch, she clung to the anger consuming her but she knew that wasn't all that had her reacting like this. She could only hope he wouldn't see it or sense it.

Sylar then brought his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. "I know you don't want to be alone, Claire. With me you'll never have to be."

"I never asked to live forever. I never even said that I wanted to. You think I threw myself into fires and out of windows or even in front of speeding trains for the rush? No. I don't want to see eternity, Sylar."

"You don't want to see it alone," he corrected. "If you had just one person to spend it with I know you would see it differently."

"What makes you think I'd want it to be you?"

"Okay, we can play this game," Sylar sighed as if preparing for another battle of wits and words. Though he had to admit that with Claire the game never got old. He doubted it would. "Let's pretend for a moment Nathan could live forever instead of me, that you could spend the rest of time with him. Why would you want to? He's neglected you, he's the reason you were nearly killed by Danko, he's selfish, arrogant and only wants you around when it's convenient. Peter?" He had to fight to not laugh. "Peter would crumble under the pressure. He could never handle what the future could bring. He likes to pretend to be strong and independent but just you wait until Nathan dies. Even if it's of old age, you will see Peter die the same day one way or another. Noah." He scoffed the older man's name. "Do I even need to repeat the wrongs he's done?"

"You seem to like the sound of your own voice. Why stop now?" she fired. She was trapped. Trapped with the physical embodiment of her nightmares, her family was who knew where, obviously incapable of getting to her and Sylar had seemed to take his dating advice from Doyle which meant she had no hope of getting up or getting away until he said so. She couldn't fight him, but she could stall, she could distract him. Someone would show up at some point. After all, as Sylar had said himself, they had time.

Sylar smiled again. He did love her fire. It was just another reason he loved her. In his own way, of course. "You wouldn't even have a monster if not for him."

"And Elle, I know, you said all of this that night at Primatech. Why are you still talking about it?"

"Because you have to understand that he would have done the exact same thing to you. Using you for his own benefits, forcing you to believe him and only him. Where did that get you, Claire? Did it save you from being on the run? Did it leave you feeling safe at night?"

"And you expect me to believe you can leave me feeling safer after what you did to me?!"

"I can," he replied calmly.

"How?" She knew she shouldn't have asked. But it was too late now. She hadn't felt safe in too long and she knew how Sylar treated those who were on his side, those he found useful. Well, until they weren't.

"This world can be ours, for all time. No one would be able to touch us. And really, Claire, who better to share all of this with than someone who can truly understand you and what you've been through? Have you ever stopped to think how much we have in common?"

"We're nothing alike," she nearly growled. God, why did everyone have to say that they were alike?!

"We're both adopted, we've both been betrayed by those we had been convinced we could trust. Used, abused, neglected and essentially left for dead. We're also both still here for better or worse. Beauty and the Beast, Claire. There's a reason it's called the tale as old as time."

"You're promising me a fairy tale?" she scoffed.

"I'm promising you a life free of pain with the only person in the world who can follow through on that. I've never lied to you and you know it. You also know, in some part of you, that I never will."

"Without pain? Without pain?! My life is pain, Sylar! And it's only been worse since you took that last reminder I had that I'm human!"

He sighed. "I thought you had been through enough pain, the least I thought I could do was take that from you, to give you some kind of peace. I still wish someone would have done the same for me. That's why you're the one I have here, why you're the one I'm offering the world to."

"How do I know you won't kill me when you've gotten tired of having me around?"

"I haven't gotten tired of you in the last year and a half, Claire. It'll take more than a trophy and chunk of glass to the head to get me to give up. After all, we have all the time there is."

"If I agree to this, would you promise not to hurt my family any more than you already have?"

"I won't need to once I have you," he smiled.

"I don't love you. I don't even like being in the same room with you," she stated, deciding since he had been honest with her she would return the favor.

"I know. But you will. Take it from a man who knows, you can't fight fate." With that he raised his wine glass and clinked it against hers. "To us and our perfect future." He released his telekinetic hold on her a moment later and while she looked at him as though she wanted to smash the glass and slice his throat with it, she was Noah's daughter alright, he knew she wouldn't.

Claire did as she had said she would. For the next decade she pretended that she was only going through with her promise to keep her family safe. But the more she knew of Sylar and the more promises he kept, the more she found herself faltering.

When they first met he had been after her power. This time he had been after the rest of her. After a while she found it wasn't such a chore to be in the same room with him every so often. Or to live with him, though initially they had lived in separate wings of the mansion he had picked out. After another few years sharing his bed hadn't even been so bad. And finally even having his son had been better than she could have hoped.

Damn it. The bastard just had to be right again.

Their future was perfect.

The End


End file.
